The Lawyer Awards 2006
30 Jun 06
Blackstone Chambers was awarded second place in the Competition/Regulatory Team of the Year category at The Lawyer Awards 2006 for its successful representation of OptiGen and Fulcrum in a major carousel fraud case before the European Court of Justice.
Blackstone Chambers, led by Thomas Beazley QC and Robert Englehart QC, and Peters & Peters, led by Monty Raphael, acted for the successful claimants in a case that will have major ramifications for European companies as it is estimated that one in every nine euros in VAT turned on the outcome. The landmark judgment determined the extent to which innocent traders can be deprived of VAT repayments on the basis that the transactions in question were not genuine commercial interests. The action was worth an estimated £24m to OptiGen and around £4m to Fulcrum, but with another 50 cases waiting on the outcome, have a total value running into hundreds of millions of pounds. The award was won by Addleshaw Goddard for its successful representation of the former shareholders of New Cheshire Salt Works (NCSW) in a case that led to the landmark decision in which the Competition Commission cleared the merger between NCSW and British Salt. Slaughter and May was awarded third place. Blackstone Chambers' Mike Fordham also scooped third place in the Barrister of the Year category, behind two silks Nicholas Stadlen QC and Nicholas Green QC. Mike was rewarded for his work as lead counsel for Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks, successfully fighting for Hicks' right to be recognised as a British citizen.